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What started as a promising season came down with a sick thud, by way of a 48-7 loss to the powerhouse Tennessee at Rocky Top. Before that 7 point outing, the Crimson Tide were averaging 48.8 points a game. Still ranked in the top 10 (#7), Bama still has a shot at a BCS game. To do so, however, they are going to have to survive a murderers row of 3 user games in a row beginning on November 8th at LSU.

Bama is young at QB and RB however, so depending on what types of recruits they field and how some rising seniors step up next season, Bama will be right back in the thick of things looking for a national title. James McLaughlin has a 61% completion rate, averaging 262 yards a game. His interceptions are a bit high, as he's tossed 11 to the other team. The running game has been paced with even reps (79 vs 72) for Sylvester Shuler and Stephen Sanchez, respectively. Gaining 474 and 407 yards, and combining for 7 touchdowns. Jfosh does a great job of spreading the ball around to his wideouts, as all 4 starters have had at least 14 catches on the year.

Jeremy Brown at the defensive tackle position is having an amazing year, already having amassed 11 sacks, which is rare for a player who lines up over the center. Brandon Larsen at MLB is on track for 100+ tackles, and has already scored a defensive touchdown on the year.
Alabama sits at 6-1, with the one loss coming in conference.

Auburn, much like Alabama, would be undefeated if it wasn't for a loss to Tennessee. As it stands, they sit at 6-1, including back to back wins over LSU and Virginia Tech. Georgia looms large on the horizon, with National Title implications on the line. They boast the #4 rushing offense in the country to go along with the #6 passing offense. For sure, they will be a dangerous team to handle. They also have no injuries that they are nursing at the minute.

William Hamilton leads the Tiger passing attack with a sickening 68% completion rate. He has 18 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, and is averaging 268.2 yards a game. He is also a threat on the ground, having amassed 471 yards and 5 touchdowns, and despite being sacked 22 times his YPC average is at 4.6! The sophomore stands at an imposing 6 foot, 5 inches.

His favorite targets thus far this season are Jeremy McBride and Kyle Ratliff. The two have almost identical stats. Ratliff has 24 catches to McBride's 22; Ratliff with 536 yards to McBride's 505. Both have caught 4 touchdowns this season. Freshman back John Love has rushed for 416 yards and 7 touchdowns with an amazing 6.8 YPC average. Auburn has weapons, that’s for sure.

How is the defense faring, however? Well, their leading tackler is a FS...which either means they like to play the secondary close to the line...or...

In any case, the standout so far on defense has been Senior SS Matt Flynn, who's intercepted 5 passes and has taken 1 back to the house. The defensive line has caused problems, combining for 19 sacks between the starters so far.

Auburn, much like Alabama, is not out of the big time bowl conversation. However, the Iron Bowl against Georgia is going to likely decide how this season pans out. The eyes of the entire league will be watching.

Clemson has somehow managed to play 9 games already, and they sit at 6-3. Don't let the record fool you, however, as their three losses have come by a combined 16 points, including a last second loss by FG to the defending champs and a 5 point loss to the undefeated Tarheels of North Carolina. They have Florida State and Alabama still left on their schedule (the last two games). Can they stem the tide and pull off the close wins this time around? Let's see what the stats say:

One thing that sticks out like a sore ass thumb for Clemson is the amount of sacks that they've given up. Guess how many...if you happened to guess 20...you're only just over HALFWAY there. They've given up 39 sacks to opposing defense, which has rattled their true freshman starting into a 1 to 1 TD to INT ratio. Considering that they've played 9 games while other users have just finished 6 and 7 games, the offensive stats are very underwhelming.

Don't fret Tiger fans, Clemson has freshman starting at QB, RB, and as their leading WR! The improvement will come, and to have come so close to being undefeated this season facing odds such as these, is a true testament to how great of a coach that Clemson has.

One day, teams will learn to not throw the ball Joe Porter's way. I guess that wasn't in the first half of the season however, as he's picked off 5 throws and taken two back for scores, including a scintilating 68 yard return that still has the youtube boys buzzing. Clemson has been solid defensively, with no one other than Porter sticking out as dominant. However, as a unit, they've stepped up to the plate and have been performing very cohesively as of late.

Florida has been a mixed bag so far this season, as they are a well rated team coming into the season. Their bright spot of the season came in week 5 with a 34-20 victory against LSU in the swamp. They've also been frequent (3 time) visitors to the 60 point club. Almost 4 times but they were "held" to 58 points by Iowa. But, in their biggest games of the year, they've been stymied. That includes a 52-20 loss to, who else, Tennessee and a recent loss at home to Georgia.

They have been absolutely amazing in the running game, and are Top 10 ranked nationally at it. They have 2 different 700 yard rushers in John Spence and Derek Massey. The 94 speed ranked Spence plays "Lightning" to the 6'3" 230 lb Massey's "Thunder". They've combined for 26 touchdowns ALREADY, and don't seem keen to stop anytime soon.

The defense has scored 4 times so far this season, and are lead by 58 tackles for Oliver Massey, the true Sophomore free safety. Jim Sullivan (yes, the kicker) has also been a bright spot, having not missed a field goal or extra point all season.

Florida still has Florida State on the schedule in a rematch of last year's Chick-Fil-A Peach bowl, a game which FSU won 26-20

The #1 ranked team in the country, Georgia has taken on all comers and beaten them all. They did have a close scrap in a game against Tennessee; but they say that champions always have one game that they "should" have lost during the season. Key point is that they didn't.

They are lead by All Everything James Scales, who has thrown for 18 touchdowns to just 5 interceptions, and a 65% completion rate. I remember Scale's commitment back in the very season, one which I vividly followed on NCAAStrategies...that is until Helli decided to pull the plug.

Ehrm, anyway, back to the task at hand. Mike Anderson has been around a while, and is putting up ridiculous numbers this season. 1052 rushing yards already to go along with 16 touchdowns, and a 6.8 YPC average has Anderson right in the middle of the Heisman discussion. With a RS SR leading the way at both QB and RB, you would expect the leading wide receiver to be old enough to buy a beer right? Well, meet Shawn Lee, the 6'3" true freshman. He has 526 yards and 7 touchdowns, and is a hell of a big play threat, sporting a 22.8 YPCatch.

Senior (redshirt SR, damn that 1st class was beastly Helli) Wesley Bryant has 3 defensive touchdowns, 4 pass breakups, 1 fumble recovery, 4 INT, and 3 TFL to go along with his 60 tackles. Georgia hasn't gotten to the quarterback in terms of sacks, but when you pull down 16 INT's halfway through the year, I say let them throw.

Georgia still has a matchup with a tough Auburn team on the horizon. All of this statistical dominance will go for naught without a win in the Iron Bowl, so I reserve the right to come back and rewrite a not so glowing report on the Dawgs should they fall.

The defending champs have had another strong year so far, with the only blemish on their record coming from Virginia Tech with a 41-27 defeat in Blacksburg. The very next week, they turned the tide and won 41-24 (eerily close) win against Florida State. They haven't looked back since. Boy would they love a crack at VT again...I'm guessing because from the short time I've known Mo he is uber competitive.

Georgia Tech has thrown for over 2000 yards on the season and 19 touchdowns, split between two different QB's. True freshman RB Clifford Perry has been great for the Yellow Jackets so far, having accounted for 904 total yards and 10 touchdowns. He has a very bright future in Atlanta. Shaun Brown, who has been deuling with Florida State's Dane Harrison for Best WR honors, has accounted for 720 yards and 6 touchdowns. He will probably win the award, due to Dane Harrison having to miss 3 weeks of playing time. Georgia Tech has also made great use of the TE, and senior Avery Stevenson has 509 yards and 6 touchdowns to show for it.

The safeties in this league have had some amazing statistics. George Dunn has amassed 69 tackles, 6 interceptions, 4 defensive touchdowns, a forced fumble, 10 TFL and a safety. Alex Gore at MLB is right behind him with 62 tackles, with 3 sacks. The Jackets are turnover machines, with 17 interceptions and 10 forced fumbles.

Georgia Tech has Tennessee next week before wrapping up the season with 3 CPU games.

In a down year, the Tigers (how many damn "Tigers" are there?) have 3 losses on the season; all coming to SEC opponents (Auburn, Georgia, Florida). They have Alabama left on the schedule on November 8th, then finish off the season 2 weeks later against 1-6 Arkansas. LSU was a participant in the wildest game of the season, a 64-45 win against Mississippi State. The game showed off 1334 total yards in an absolute display of that SEC defense

LSU has split up the QB duties to 3 different quarterbacks, all of them have had their fair share of struggles. With those struggles in the passing game, LSU has had to turn more towards their running game, which has led to a great season for true freshman Jayson Bailey. He has 648 yards on the season and 8 touchdowns. He's had 134 carries, so he has proven that even in his 5'10" frame that he can be a workhorse for years to come.

Marcus Hollis at MLB has 70 tackles already on the season, with 10 of them in the backfield. Darrell Webb, the senior strong safety, had the highlight of the defensive year for LSU with his 88 yard TD INT return.

The U, and their coach, is back. They've won games close (24-16 win against Clemson) and won going away (38-20 against Florida State). One game that they wish went away was the loss to Georgia Tech, which went wrong very early on. But, a loss to the defending national champs is nothing to be ashamed of. Miami's lone user game left is against Virginia Tech, at home. They are still very much alive in the ACC race.

6'6", 239 lb QB Adam Francis has been lighting up opponents to the tune of 1945 yards and 17 touchdowns. His INT's are a bit high (13) but many of those came in sloppy conditions against FSU.

Behind Francis the "U" has been paced by the emergence of sophomore runningback Derrick Marcus and his 10 touchdowns, as well as Patrick Harris' 640 yards receiving.

Miami is suffering from injuries big time, however, including a season ending one to their sackmaster Ryan Benson. Even having only played in 4 full games, Benson had 12 sacks. Beast. He's a freshman, so if he can add a bit of weight to his frame he will be a terror coming of the edge for Miami.

The only other undefeated team in our league, the #2 North Carolina Tarheels boast the #1 rush offense, the #3 total offense, and an A+ overall rating. Their 4-0 start was tempered by the lack of user games, but they showed out both AT VaTech and AT Clemson. They take on Florida State next week, and IF they win they will most likely be pitted in a #1 vs #2 matchup against the undefeated Georgia Bulldogs in the last week of the season. Florida State will try their best to ruin this dream, however.

The story of this team is the play of Marcus Kerr. At 5'9", 203 lbs, he's about maxed out what his frame can handle. But what he lacks in prototypical size, he makes up for with a bruising running style which has garned him 440 yards rushing after first contact. Seriously? That's more than most starting backs have across the NCAA in TOTAL rushing yardage. He has an astounding 1220 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns. And it's not a Javon Ringer type of workload, the man still averages 6.1 yards per carry. If North Carolina is to win the national championship, it begins and ends on the shoulders of Marcus Kerr.

But he will have help, and that comes from a very talented defense. Shawn Patterson has ammassed 15 sacks while is running mate at defensive tackle, Adam Miller, has 10 himself. The team is very balanced in tackles amongst the starters, but the defensive line is where the damage is done. The starting defensive line has a combined 52 tackles for loss and 34 sacks.

[FONT=&quot]Run the ball, play good defense, destroy QB's with the defensive line. North Carolina is strong.[/FONT]

Tennessee has ridden a powerful offense and turnovers to a 6-1 record, with the lone loss coming by single digits to the #1 team in the country. Brian Simpson, the Junior QB, has completed 66% of his passes for 1955 yards, and 16 touchdowns to only 5 interceptions, all the while amassing a QB rating of 190.

Two junior tailbacks have been carrying the load for the Volunteers. James Keyes has 548 yards rushing and 8 touchdowns, and Brad Dawson has 452 yards rushing and 7 touchdowns. Neither have wowed with big runs (both have identical 4.4 YPC averages), but they rarely go down on fist contact and have been excellent complements to Simpson.

Simpson's prolific season has lead to 3 different 400 yard receivers. David Dingle has 593 yards, the tightend Leroy Tucker has 468, and 6'5" Alex Carlson has 431. Defensively both defensive ends have 8 sacks on the year. Matt Anderson, junior SS, has 5 interceptions already, to go along with a defensive touchdown.

Quite simply, Tennessee and Georgia are about as evenly matched as it gets down there in the SEC. They both have fielded amazing teams, and their clash this year was as epic as it was hyped to be. Even a bit more so, as conversation about the game still is uttered from time to time across various internet message boards...

Last (finally, my hands are cramping), but certainly not least is Virginia Tech. All hail Logan Thomas. They stand at 6-2 this season, with their losses coming to Auburn and North Carolina, who have 1 loss between them. Not bad at all.

The loss of Logan Thomas has led to a void in the receiving core, with his replacement unable to match his production. Junior WR Jeff Ellis, however, has had big play after big play. He has 674 yards receiving, but his big play capabilities are best recognized from his 22.4 YPcatch average. He also has a 95 yard TD reception to his name, and 5 total touchdowns.

Bruce Burton, the true freshman runningback, has also stepped up and amassed 844 yards rushing and 8
touchdowns. He is trying to fight through injury right now, however. The Hokies could not need him any more than they do, their second leading rusher is their QB.

Defensively, Virginia Tech has been solid. No one has ridiculous numbers, but this band of misfits has performed well enough. They aren't ranked very well in terms of yardage, but they also have a shutout and another near shutout to their name, so take it for whatever it's worth.

VaTech is extremely young, and is looking for pieces to the puzzle to replace some of the stars that they've been used to having stalk their opponents. And, I mean, they graduated Logan fucking Thomas. Have you seen the video? If you havent'...well you must.

If you've gotten to this point in reading, then you're a beast. Seriously, thanks. I spent a ton of time on this, but I felt like we needed a proper mid season review. Well, mid season-ish, as the thread title says. Good luck on the rest of the season fellas!

Now, like the good college student that I am, it's time to crack open a Corona and just chill.

If you've gotten to this point in reading, then you're a beast. Seriously, thanks. I spent a ton of time on this, but I felt like we needed a proper mid season review. Well, mid season-ish, as the thread title says. Good luck on the rest of the season fellas!

Now, like the good college student that I am, it's time to crack open a Corona and just chill.

Click to expand...

nah man that was an excellent review of all the user teams. There's a reason I said you remind me of....me lol...you seem to be into what you get into if you get my drift.

Thanks Merih for all the time you put into this. I'll take a shot at FSU.

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Florida State:

One might say that Florida State's opening game was a microcosm of their season as a whole so far. A potential blowout was derailed due to an interception that was returned for a touchdown. They had to settle for an extremely tight win, playing great defense in the final minutes. They're 10th in the nation in takeaways and have a butt-load of interceptions, but also like to give it away, and have a +4 turnover margin. So turnovers aren't what's killing them but they're probably stopping this team from having a better record.

Overall they've played well in stretches but have made costly mistakes that cost them games. Some of that is personnel related, as they don't have a quarterback that would measure up to being even "average" by T1 standards. that certainly isn't Coach Merih's fault but the fact that the current recruiting class isn't going so well may not be a good sign. They have to put premiums on premium players and maximize their efficiency on recruitnig calls, thinking outside the box to do so.

I won't pile on the stats but the first thing they need to do is cut down on the interceptions. That's really tough when you don't have a game breaker at running back. Will Brown is a chain mover, but they need the QB to complete passes to sustain drives. Period. This is a team that's facing some serious headwind due to the previously established personnel issues, but tack on a devastating toe injury to their best offensive player, Dane Harrison - a significant chunk of their offense and their only consistent big-play threat. He will miss at LEAST the North Carolina game and will likely not be at full strength for Clemson. A truly crushing blow...

This is a seaon that's on the brink right now and they need to play great in their next couple of games to have a shot.

Late to the party on this one...but that was a great post Merih...I dont think you can count Alabama out with the one loss but they still have work to do. If they can get by Auburn and an always gritty Clemson squad and land in the SEC championship with one loss..who knows???

I thought I had already commented on this but I guess I'm a bit of a scatter brain. My offense is definately poised to be great in years to come, but this year we wasted a talented veteran defense.
I played like a chode in all my user games up until the second half of the Georgia Tech game where I kind of slapped myself in the forehead and woke up. I was playing this game real well before I left for Puerto Rico and then my holiday vacation and am almost back to that level but as always I can screw any good thing up.